Meaning of properties reported by Disk Management

[DavidOdden]

In Disk Management, partitions are given descriptive terms like Boot, Page File, Active and so on. Is there a description of what the set of terms are, and what their significance is? For example, on machine 1 (Vaio) the first unnamed partition (11GB, invisible) has the property Recovery Partition; the second (100MB) has the properties System, Active, Primary Partition – it has the name System Reserved; and the third (the remainder of the drive is C:, with the properties Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition. On machine 2 (Dell), the first unnamed partition (39MB, invisible) has the property OEM Partition; the second unnamed (11GB, invisible) has the property Active, Recovery Partition; the remainder is C: with the properties Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition.

Apart from difference in order of the first two partitions (big-small vs. small-big where Recovery is big), the systems seem to differ in that the Dell has nothing identified as “System”, and it has an “OEM Partition” which the Vaio does not have, plus the differences in whether that small partition has the name System Reserved. This weakly suggests that “OEM Partition” is just another label for “System”, except that I suspect that the partitions don’t have arbitrary text tags that provide this information, they have some standardized numeric code or flag bit that gets translated into one of these labels, and there is a real difference.


My underlying concern is whether these labeling differences between machines indicate that there is a lurking problem on one of the machines.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

My underlying concern is whether these labeling differences between machines indicate that there is a lurking problem on one of the machines.

I wouldn't think so.

The labeling differences are just choices made by the manufacturer. Sometimes the label makes some sense intuitively and sometimes not.

"Recovery" typically indicates the partition is useful to help restore the PC to the factory state, but such a partition may also contain other files---purely at the whim of the manufacturer.

"OEM" could mean most anything. All it tells you for sure is that it was deliberately placed there by the manufacturer, purpose unknown. That's up to you to find out. It could contain tools of some type, boot files, or whatever else the manufacturer might stash there.

"System Reserved" partitions typically contain the boot files required to start a Windows machine, but those boot files can be located on some other partition--purely at the whim of the manufacturer.

If you build a Win 7 PC at home, it might have (as mine does) ONLY a C partition. The "standard" installation on a home built PC would have a System Reserved partition containing boot files and that partition would be marked as "system" in Windows Disk Management---but you can avoid it--as I have done.

So, I would not draw any conclusions based on how partitions are named. Instead, I would examine the flags shown on each partition as seen in Windows Disk Management and consult the documentation provided with the PC and/or the manufacturer's web site. And pound on Google.

In a home built PC, System Reserved is normally marked as system, active, and primary. C as boot, page file, crash dump, and primary. However, as in my case, the C partition can be marked with all 7 of those flags.

“Boot” flag in Windows Disk Management means the system now booted (not where boot files are).

The 'active' status simply tells the system which partition to boot from. The computer will use the loader on the “active” partition to start the operating system. Don't mark a partition as active if it doesn't contain the loader for an operating system.

The only partition that needs to be primary is the one that contains the boot manager, the partition marked “system”.

There's no problem whatsoever installing Windows in a logical partition, although the System Reserved partition needs to be primary.

 

[cyclops]

ignatzatsonic, good answer. I build my boxes same as the way you do yours.

 

[AddRAM]

There is no lurking problem, don`t you know how to use Google ????

 

[cyclops]

Just need to know how to bait the hook and be ready to go fishing in more than one place.

 

[AddRAM]

You`re welcome on my boat anytime

 

[cyclops]

Nice, you'll be slaying big stripers soon. I have a 16' aluminum Fisher w/25 Yamaha that hasn't been out for way too long. That's what happens during crappy divorce. I'll be out on Chesapeake Bay with a good friend and his new 43' deadrise. He has a side business building and selling tackle. Check out his website FISHONTACKLE.com

 

[DavidOdden]

I guess the underlying problem is that I don't know how to find those flags on partitions. Disk Management doesn't seem to offer anything.

 

[Layback Bear]

Complete this tutorial by Golden so we can have a look.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[DavidOdden]

Okay, here it is. There are the verbal descriptions, but no flags, and no menu items suggesting that there's any such thing.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep that's just the way oem manufacture sell machines,
They can't figure out how to stuff all of their crapware on a disk so they occupy 2 partitions instead

They also do not provide clean windows 7 install disks because everyone would use them as soon as they receive it or the warrantee expires on the machine

Which is what you should do if you can get a win-7 iso of the same version the machine has on it now
Wipe the drive and clean install.
The 2 partitions or the utility that does the system store to factory state will eventually become corrupt and not work anyway soon enough.

 

[Layback Bear]

When people use the word (Flag) it means the partition that has the word (active).

I have never used a store bought computer so I don't know how Dell sets up their system. The word (system) means that is the partition that Windows boots with.
You only need one (system) partition per operating system installed.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Okay, here it is. There are the verbal descriptions, but no flags, and no menu items suggesting that there's any such thing.

The odd thing I notice about this drive is that no partition is flagged as "system".

I don't know why that is.

I'd guess that boot files are on the OEM partition, since it's a Dell, but for some reason you don't see the "system" flag.

Mine is below.

Disk 0 is Windows and applications, containing all flags on this single C partition.

Disk 1 is Linux. Disk 2 is data. Disk 3 is data backup.

 

[Layback Bear]

My understanding is with a Dell and maybe other branded computers System, Active, mean the same.

We need another person with a Dell to post a picture.

 

[DavidOdden]

Thanks to everybody for their input. With a bit more digging around, I picked up a few tidbits. A partial key seems to be understanding the partition table in the MBR, with this being information-starter. Apart from the first byte which identifies bootable / not-bootable, the partition identifier (byte at offset 4 within each entry) encodes other stuff. The assignment of identifier bytes seems to not be standardized although no doubt MS has its own standard. Here is one list and here is another. Using Active@ Disk Editor, I determined that the three partitions on the Vaio have the IDs 27h (not-bootable), 07h (bootable) and 07h (not-bootable). On the Dell, the partitions are DEh (not-bootable), 27h (bootable) and 07h (not-bootable). It may be that Disk Management assigns different interpretations to partitions depending on an interaction between these flags. MS says here that 27h has the special meaning "utility partition". Further information would presumably be contained in the volume boot record of the individual partition, which seems to be described in detail here though it will take weeks for me to understand it.